Cognitive Development

Cognitive Development

1. Piaget

   • Development precedes learning
     • how we learn is just as important as what we learn
       • believed that children create their own knowledge
         • children should be independent so they can learn from their own doings
   • 4 stages
     • sensorimotor (birth-2): trial and error, object permanence, reflexes, planned problem solving, goal directed behavior
     • preoperational (2-7): conservation, egocentric, centration, reversibility, focus on states
     • formal operational (11-adulthood): hypothetical situations, monitored reasoning, systematic reasoning, symbolic thinking
     • concrete operational (7-11): inferred reality, seriation, transivity, decentered thought, class inclusion
   • schemes, adaptation, equilibration, constructivism

2. Vygotsky

   • Learning precedes devleopment
     • continuous develeopment
       • teachers need to give activities based on how much help children need
   • mediation: complex skills (ex. problem solving)
   • private speech: self talk guiding thinking and actions, eventually silent inner speech
   • zone of proximal development: level above a persons present level
   • scaffolding: providing a child with support during early stages and them having them take on responsibility when able to do so

3. THEORIES of HUMAN DEVELOPMENT:

   • Both theorist share the belief that distinct stages of development can be identified and described