Essay Introduction: The theory of cognitive development Is defined as the development of the ability to think and reason. There are many theorists who have studied cognitive theories and the most famous Is Jean Planet. Cognitive development covers the physical and emotional stages of a child. The basic premise for cognitive development is to show the different stages of the development of a child so you can understand where the child might be in their development. Understanding cognitive development will better prepare the teacher when it comes to dealing with children ND how to handle situations.
The way children learn and mentally grow plays a central role in their learning process and abilities. When the teacher knows about the development of children then they can help with the development of each individual child on both the physical and emotional level. It will also allow the teacher to better relate to the child and understand what they are thinking. My research contrasts the cognitive development theories of Jean Pigged and L S Viscosity. This research will show the Implications of both these theories for the teaching of young children wrought the learning process.
Piglet’s theory of cognitive development was based on three main principles. First principle assimilation is the process of putting a new experience into already existing structure (schemas) from memory. The child is active in so far as they are selective they do not absorb all the information in which they encounter. Second principle accommodation: As children develop they will encounter experiences which their existing schemas (memory) are incapable of explaining. Therefore they must develop new schemas In response to new experiences.
Third principle is equilibration which Is the process of seeking to achieve cognitive stability, through the first and second principle. The child Is constantly trying to Interpret and understand the world while encountering new experiences, This Is why Jean Planet suggested that children’s cognitive development could be divided into stages. Pigged went on to develop a stage model where each stage followed from the previous one and showed a development in thinking and understanding. Between the ages of zero and two years of age, the child is the seniority stage.
It is during this stage the child experiences his or err own world through the senses and through movement. During the later part of the seniority stage, the child develops object permanence, which is an understanding that an object exists even if it is not within the field of vision (Slaving 2000). The child also begins to understand that his or her actions could cause another action, for example, kicking a mobile to make the mobile move. This Is an example of goal directed behavior.
During a child’s second and seventh year, he or she Is considered to be In the pre-operational stage during this stage the child has to yet mastered the ability of mental operations. The child in the operational considered to be egocentric, meaning they assume others share their points of view. Because of geocentricism children in this stage engage in collective monologues, in which each child is talking, but not interacting with the other children. (Wolff,A 2004). Another aspect of the operational stage is the acquisition of the skill of conversation. Concrete operations occur between the ages of seven and eleven years.
According to Pigged children learn best through hands on discovery learning, while irking with tangible objects. Reasoning also begins to take shape in this stage. Pigged stated that the three basic reasoning skills acquired during this stage were identity, compensation and reversibility (Slaving 2000). By the time, the child learns that a person or object remains the same over time (identity) and one action can cause changes in another (compensation). This child has an understanding of ordering objects by certain physical aspects. The child is also able to classify items by focusing on a certain aspect and grouping them accordingly.
Piglet’s final stage of cognitive development is formal operations, occurring from eleven years to adulthood. People who reach this stage are able to think abstractly. They have achieved the skills such as inductive and deductive reasoning abilities. Pigged thought that children’s cognitive development was linked to the natural maturation of the brain and therefore children had to be developmentally ready to learn things. Piglet’s theory had a lot of educational implications. Piglet’s work heavily influenced educational theories and practice (Slaving 2000). Pigged introduced child centered learning.
Pigged felt that the child should not have free will over their learning, but learning should be teacher – directed. Pigged thought that it was of no use to try and encourage a child to engage in a task which was beyond their level of cognitive development. Pigged suggest that asking a child in a pre- operational stage (2-areas) to attempt a task requiring compensation was inappropriate because they are not ready to engage in such a task. Therefore teachers need to be aware of the child’s level of development in order to set appropriate tasks. Pigged thought that children learnt by being actively involved.
Good learning requires participation (Oakley, 2004). However Pigged underestimated the cognitive abilities of young children and over estimated the cognitive abilities of older children. These problems have led people to suggest that although Piglet’s stages may exist, the ages that are attached to them needed to be reconsidered. Level Visigoths theory stated that children learn through social interactions and their culture, language and the zone of proximal development. Through Weights theory we socially interact and communicate with others to learn the cultural values of our society.
Weights also stated that activities take place in the cultural settings and cannot be understood apart from these settings. The social cognition learning model asserts that culture is the prime determinant of individual development. People are the only species to have created culture, and every child develops in the context of a culture. Therefore, a child’s learning development is affected in ways large and small by the culture including the culture of family environment in which intellectual development. First, through culture children acquire much of the content f their thinking, that is, their knowledge.
Second the surrounding culture provides a child with the processes or means of their thinking. In short, according to the social cognition learning model, culture teaches children both what to think and how to think. The second factor of Weights theory was language. Weights thought that we encode and represent our world through language, that language is a symbolic system by which we communicate. (Oakley, 2004) Children need to be encouraged to listen and to discuss ideas that they have with their peers and teachers. Through this discussion hillier are able to apply their language skills.
Which in turn is supporting the child social skills? The children are encouraged to move from their current ideas to more developed ideas of other peers. Visigoths stated there were three stages of language development: First stage was social speech which occurs up to three years. Speech is used to control the behaviors of others. The second stage is egocentric speech. This occurs between the ages of three and seven years. In this stage children talk to themselves regardless of other individuals who may be around them. The third stage is inner speech this occurs at the age of seven plus.
It may include adults within this stage. The inner speech is silent; it is used to direct behaviors or thought. The third factor of Weights theory was zone of pronominal development. This is the distance between the actual developmental level and potential level of the individual child. The key factor is the role of the teacher or experienced other. According to Hoosegows theory scaffolding is also another key part of education. Scaffolding is made up into different stages. The first stage is recruitment. This is here the teacher must obtain the interest of the child.
Ensuring the child is actively engaged. Once the teacher has engaged the child. The teacher must encourage the child to attempt the task. Second stage is reduction of degrees of freedom. As this stage develops the teacher needs to make the task simple for the learner. In return the learner must be able to Judge whether he or she can fulfilled the task. Third stage is direction maintenance where the teacher needs to maintain motivations and encouragement. The four stage is making critical. This stage focuses on the parts of the task that are he most relevant.
This in turn allows the child to compare their own results. The final stage in the theory is demonstration. This stage the adult provides a demonstration of the completed task. After looking at the demonstration the child should be able to imitate the teacher’s performance with continued adult encouragement and guidance. In my personal experience regarding the two cognitive theories I would be more apt to apply Wisterias principles to my classroom. I believe that principles such as scaffolding and co constructed knowledge, dialogue, ND cultural tools are all important components off child’s education.
By helping children within their zone of proximal development, I can offer them useful learning strategies which they can internalize and utilize later within their development stages. Within a professional experience within an education setting I have witnessed Hoosegows theory in practice. Within this setting children are used as peer mentors for example, the children aged between three and seven years are peer mentored by children to mentor and guide the younger children The school also uses Hoosegows scaffolding approach. This is where the teacher engages the child.
The teacher than looks at the individual child and adjusts the task to their individual needs and requirements. In turn makes the task more achievable. The teacher motivates the individual child by offering plenty of supportive encouragement. In conclusion, a teacher’s focus should be to provide assistance to the child or student in need, and be able to provide the cultural tools and any educational resources that may be required. Especially in today’s classroom, the teacher needs to be sensitive to the hillier or students cultural background and language, and be an active participant in their knowledge construction.
