Cognitive Development
How does our thinking develop?
Jean Piaget
“Are we forming children who are only capable
of learning what is already known?”
Jean Piaget
1:1 Contact
Diversity in learning
Cooperative
learning
Multi-age grouping
Cognition in stages
Piaget Interview
Piaget: “what makes the wind?”
Julia: “the trees”
Piaget: “how do you know?”
Julia: “I saw them waving their arms.”
Piaget: “how does that make the wind?”
Julia: (waving her hands in front of his face) “like this only they
are bigger and there are lots of trees.”
Piaget: “ what makes the wind on the ocean?”
Julia: “it blows there from the land. No, it’s the waves.”
Developing Schemas (mental categories)
Assimilation
The child
incorporates new
objects, ideas and
experiences into
existing schemas
Accommodation
The child modifies
their schemas as a
result of new
information or
experience.
Sensorimotor Stage= Birth – 2years
• Child relationship to world is through senses
and motor activities
• Self-awareness? (The mirror test- 9 months vs.
15-24 months)
• Stranger Anxiety = Distress when caregiver
leaves
• Object Permanence=coincides with stranger
anxiety. Usually resolved by 9 months.
Preoperational Stage=2 to 7 years
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•
•
•
One relationship at a time
Non-logical thinking/non-reversible thinking
Symbolic thinking-play/Animism
Egocentric- Theory of Mind (by age 4 see that
their “beliefs” can be wrong
• Language starts to develop (24-8,000 words)
• 1st dreams and night terrors
Concrete Operational Stage= 7-11 yrs
• Logical approach to thinking- child begins to do “in
his head” what he would have done earlier with
action. Can re-trace their steps.. “start over” if
necessary
• Thought problems/word problems. (mental
representations)
• Mastery of conservation. (time, space, #’s, mass,
volume, etc.)
• More than one relationship at a time.
• Reduced egocentrism.
Who is naughtier?
Philip was outside when his mother called him for
dinner. As he opened the door. He accidently knocked
over a tray of cups, breaking all 8. Compare him with
John who came home from school hungry. Though his
mother told him not to each before dinner, he climbed
up to the cupboard anyway to take a cookie; while up
there, he broke one cup.
Age 4-7?
Age 7+?
Who is naughtier?
After school Michael ran into the supermarket, stole 3
large apples and ran out the door. As he fled, a
policemen saw and chased him. In attempting to
escape, Michael crossed a bridge. As he reached the
top, the bridge cracked, Michael fell into the water and
he was captured.
Would the bridge have broken if Michael had not stolen
the apples? Why?
Age 4-7?
Age 7+ ?
Formal Operations= 11 years …
• Abstract thought/Hypothesis testing
• Reason about abstract things (even
themselves)
• Judgment of others
• Future planning
Criticism of Piaget
• Underestimates infant and young children’s
cognitive ability
• Overestimates adolescents’ cognitive ability
• Undervalues the influence of sociocultural
environment’s influence
Lev Vygotsky
• Importance of culture and
social world
• Importance of language
• Zone of Proximal
Development (ZPD)= the
gap between what a child
can achieve alone (what
the child knows) and what
they can achieve with adult
guidance (potential)
• Scaffolding= Support and
resources to guide mastery