COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT
“A
gift you are from heaven above, a perfect example of God’s precious love.”
Babies
truly are a gift from the heaven above. They are the bundle of joy which God
gifts us and soon in a blink of eye they grow.
It was once believed that infants
lacked the ability to think or form complex ideas and remained without
cognition until they learned language. Due to the research done and waste knowledge
explosion, it is now known that babies are aware of their surroundings and are interested
in exploring from the time they are born. From birth, babies begin to actively
learn. They have the powerful senses to recognise the voices and have an
enhanced sense of smell, through which they even find their mother. They
gather, sort, and process information from around them, using the data to
develop perception and thinking skills. Today through this blog of ours we are going to learn about Cognitive development and Jean Piaget.
Cognitive development refers to how a person perceives,
thinks, and gains understanding of his or her world through the interaction of
genetic and learned factors. Among the areas of cognitive development are
information processing, intelligence, reasoning, language development and memory.
Historically, the cognitive development of
children has been studied in a variety of ways. The oldest is through
intelligence tests, such as the widely used Stanford Binet ‘Intelligence
Quotient’ (IQ) test.
In contrast to the emphasis placed
on a child's native abilities by intelligence testing, learning theory grew out
of work by behaviorist researchers such as John Watson (1878–1958) and B. F.
Skinner (1904–1990), who argued that children are completely malleable.
Learning theory focuses on the role of environmental factors in shaping the
intelligence of children, especially on a child's ability to learn by having
certain behaviors rewarded and others discouraged.
Cognitive
development is the construction of thought processes, including remembering,
problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to
adulthood.
The most well-known and influential
theory of cognitive development is that of French psychologist Jean Piaget
(1896–1980). He offers a rich information regarding the development of child’s
thinking over the ages of life. This is called as ‘Genetic Epistemology’.
Piaget's theory, first published in
1952, grew out of decades of extensive observation of children, including his
own, in their natural environments as opposed to the laboratory experiments of
the behaviorists. Although Piaget was interested in how children reacted to
their environment, he proposed a more active role for them than that suggested
by learning theory. He envisioned a child's knowledge as composed of schemas,
basic units of knowledge used to organize past experiences and serve as a basis
for understanding new ones. He believed in the interaction between the heredity
and environment.
Schemas are continually being modified by two
complementary processes that Piaget termed assimilation and accommodation.
Assimilation refers to the process of taking in new information by
incorporating it into an existing schema. In other words, people assimilate new
experiences by relating them to things they already know. On the other hand,
accommodation is what happens when the schema itself changes to accommodate new
knowledge. According to Piaget, cognitive development involves an ongoing
attempt to achieve a balance between assimilation and accommodation that he
termed equilibration. The adjustment to the environment is nothing but
adaptation.
At the centre of Piaget's theory is
the principle that cognitive development occurs in a series of four distinct,
universal stages, each characterized by increasingly sophisticated and abstract
levels of thought. These stages always occur in the same order, and each build
on what was learned in the previous stage. Cognitive development is the
successive growth and development of an individual over the age. It is for the
children throughout the world and occurs in a fixed order.
They are as follows:
I. Sensorimotor stage (infancy): According to Piaget’s Sensorimotor stage, it is from the birth
of an infant till 2 years. In this stage the infant is completely unaware of
the environment. He/she used the senses and actions. Instead of thinking
infants discover by sensing and doing. Sensory and motor in function.
In this period, intelligence is demonstrated through motor
activity without the use of symbols. Knowledge of the world is limited, but
developing, because it is based on physical interactions and experiences.
Children acquire object permanence at about seven months of age (memory).
Physical development (mobility) allows the child to begin developing new
intellectual abilities. Some symbolic (language) abilities are developed at the
end of this stage.
1. Coordinating Reflexes: The reflexes not coordinated from birth are
coordinated from 4 months of age.
2. Objectified Causality: Infants learn about relationship between actions
and the external world.
3. Object Permanence: Post the age of 8 months, the infants
understand that the objects around them are permanent. They try to get attached
to parents or the care taker and often cry when are with others.
4. Imitation: Infants try to imitate the actions or facial
expressions of an older person.
At 12
months of age, babies can follow a fast-moving object; can speak two to four
words, including "mama" and "papa"; imitate animal sounds;
associate names with objects; develop attachments to objects, such as a toy or blanket;
and experience separation anxiety when away from their
parents. By 18 months of age, babies can understand about 10–50 words; identify
body parts; feel a sense of ownership by using the word "my" with
certain people or objects; and can follow directions that involve two different
tasks, such as picking up toys and putting them in a box.
II. Pre-operational stage (toddlerhood and early childhood): In this period, which has two sub stages, intelligence is
demonstrated using symbols, language use matures and there is lot of
development, memory enhances, and imagination are developed, but thinking is
done in a non-logical, non-reversible manner. Egocentric thinking predominates.
A. Pre-conceptual phase (2 to 4 years): This is the period of rudimentary concept formation. During this
period, the child develops the ability to identify and classify objects.
Two-year-olds should be able to understand 100 to 150 words and
start adding about ten new words per day. Toddlers also have a better
understanding of emotions, such as love, trust, and fear. They begin to
understand some of the ordinary aspects of everyday life, such as shopping for
food, telling time, and being read to.
1. Representational Thought: The child
develops the ability to form mental symbols to represent objects or events that
are not present.
a. Differed Imitation: Ability to imitate actions of adults.
b. Symbolic Play: The child demonstrates make-believe play in which
he uses signs and symbols in place of real objects.
2.
Transductive Reasoning: Reasoning
is from particular to general in nature.
3. Ego-Centrism: The child at
Pre-conceptual phase cannot think beyond his own view. He assumes that what
others see is the same as he/she himself or herself.
4.
Animistic Thinking: The kid thinks
in an animistic way. He/she attributes human feelings and motives to non-living
objects.
B. The
Intuitive Phase (4-7 years): The behaviour is still controlled by
perception. Reasoning is based on intuition rather than systemic thinking or
logic.
III. Concrete operational stage (elementary and early adolescence): In this stage, characterized by seven types of conservation
(number, length, liquid, mass, weight, area, and volume), intelligence is
demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to
concrete objects. Operational thinking develops (mental actions that are
reversible). Egocentric thought diminishes.
1.
Inductive- Deductive Reasoning:
Thinking is not based upon small bit of knowledge, but he/she makes use of
inductive deductive approaches to get to conclusions.
2.
Flexibility in Thinking: Loss of
ego-centrism and take views of others.
3.
Understanding the ‘Principle of
Conservation’: Now he/she understands that the change in appearance of an
object does not alter its quality or its number.
4. Classification and Serialization:
He/ she develops the ability to classify and serialize things.
5.
Reversibility of Thoughts: He/she
can go back or forward with thought in time.
IV. Formal operational stage (adolescence and adulthood): In this stage, intelligence is demonstrated through the logical
use of symbols related to abstract concepts. Early in the period there is a
return to egocentric thought. This stage invokes abstract thinking, logical
thinking in a systematic and reasonably well integrated way.
1.
Abstract Thinking: Logic and
abstract thinking by an individual.
2.
Hypothetical Reasoning: Systematic
assumption of possible solutions (hypothesis is derived by the child for the
problem).
3.
Problem- Solving: Using proper
solutions (hypothesis), he/she tests it to get the correct solution.
4.
Transfer of Knowledge: Able to transfer
the learnt knowledge from one situation to the other.
The most significant alternative to the work of Piaget
has been the information-processing approach, which uses the computer as a
model to provide new insight into how the human mind receives, stores,
retrieves, and uses information. Researchers using information-processing
theory to study cognitive development in children have focused on areas such as
the gradual improvements in children's ability to take in information and focus
selectively on certain parts of it and their increasing attention spans and
capacity for memory storage.
Every experience and interaction has an impact on development in early childhood. Importance of early childhood development. The emotional, social and physical development of young children has a direct effect on their overall development and on the adult they will become. That is why understanding the need to invest in very young children is so important, so as to maximize their future well-being.Hence, while developing curriculum or making lesson plans or any educational aspect, things has to be done in a certain manner so as to get maximum results.
Every experience and interaction has an impact on development in early childhood. Importance of early childhood development. The emotional, social and physical development of young children has a direct effect on their overall development and on the adult they will become. That is why understanding the need to invest in very young children is so important, so as to maximize their future well-being.Hence, while developing curriculum or making lesson plans or any educational aspect, things has to be done in a certain manner so as to get maximum results.
"We can teach anything to any age group of children, it just depends on the right experience that we choose for creating an impact!"
A strong cognitive skill will have a good memory, concentration, and confidence or ability to make things effectively.
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