What is Cognitive Developmental Level?
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General Topics in Child Development
lL
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What is Cognitive Developmental Level?
Piaget identified four principal stages of cognitive development 1. sensorimotor, 2. pre-operational,
3. concrete-operational
4. formal-operational
Piaget saw each stage (called Cognitive Developmental Level, or CDL) as characterized
by a type of reasoning or a way of knowing the world which defines the coping strategies
and capacities of the child during that stage. In addition to the skills acquired in each
stage, a sense of perspective on those skills is seen as necessary for further
development. Stated differently, higher order thinking is dependent upon the abilities
developed in prior stages. We use CDL as one powerful tool in all of our teaching since it dictates the following:
• How we talk to your children--tone of voice, choice of words, prosody, eye
contact, etc.
• What we show interest in. For example, for the preschoolers, we get just as
excited about their toys and stickers as they are, since they think we are just as
interested in the toys and stickers as they are. The degree to which we fail to
attune our involvement with your child will be the degree to which your child will
feel alienated from us. This endeavor is highly important.
• What we expect out of them--for instance, even 9 year-olds are still "in-themoment" thinkers. They do not live in the past or future, so interventions and
interactions must be real-time based. For example, getting ready in January for
something to happen in April makes absolutely no sense to them and they cannot
work for it. They cannot structure their time and their learning sequences to be
ready in April. Therefore, it is frankly abusive to expect them to do so.
• How we change our expectations, delivery, etc. Teenagers CAN think in the past
and future, so the idea of working toward a distant (not too distant) goal works
for them, given that they receive the support along the way. Before reading on, a few concepts for the reader may help.
• Intellectual Development is a self-regulatory process, which is internally
controlled (not externally controlled).
• Assimilation and Accommodation are important concepts to remember;
1. Assimilation is the process by which a person integrates new learning
(perceptual, motor or conceptual) into existing memory structures or patterns of
behavior. Assimilation is the act of putting new learning into old memory
stores called Schemata. Schemata are units of knowledge that are
related. Assimilation does not change schemata; assimilation is the act of placing
or classifying new learning into existing memory networks called schemata.
2. Accommodation actually creates new schemata (the memory networks);
accommodation is the act of actually changing schemata; it either creates new
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What is Cognitive Developmental Level?
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schemata or changes existing ones. A child can either create a new schema or
modify an existing one.
• Affect (feelings and the behaviors that display the feelings) plays a major role in
learning in energizing behavior.
Below is a chart that exemplifies our thinking, and how it differs along CDL:
CDL
Cognitive Style
Some Ways We Work
With Children
Sensorimotor:
Ages 0 to about
2.7 to 3:
Children move through a number of
stages in the years 0 to 3.
During this period, maturation takes
place very rapidly. In the sensorimotor
stage, the child literally "thinks through
actions." Children learn by experiencing
the world through their five senses; the
child learns through motor and sensory
activity only, not through
representational, symbolic and social
activity. The cognitive aspects of this
stage evolve as the child acts on the
environment.
We do not have a piano
program for sensorimotor
children, but we do
differentiate them from
PreOperational children. We
look for behaviors that tell
us they can learn through
representational, symbolic
and social modes of
teaching.
PreOperational:
Ages 2.7 to 7.
Thinking is increasingly conceptual
and representational (they can
interpret symbols, such as letters,
numbers, musical notes, etc.) as they
move through PreOperations. Their
thought is illogical, they display
egocentric thinking (see the world only
from their point of view), employ
magical solutions, have great trouble
with cause and effect, and display
random selection of solutions. These
children have great problems handling
feelings such as frustration and
disappointment and lack the ability to
follow through,
• careful attention to
clarifying details
• focus on feelings
• provide much
structure
• work with emerging
social skills
• use their
representational
ability to teach
them to 'think' of the
music (play by ear)
• heavy use of
imitation (social
learning)
Concrete
Operational:
Ages 7 to 11
Here-and-now thinkers (do not think in
past or future), which gives them
problems in understanding cause-andeffect; misinterpret observations,
problems with frustration and
disappointment are still issues; can
make plans but lack ability to follow
through, poor values structure.
• teach rules for
thinking and
problem solving
• provide motivation
through social
learning and support
• reinforcement, and
feedback very
effective
• Identify skills and
present
conceptually.
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What is Cognitive Developmental Level?
Formal
Operations; 11
or older, but
not everyone
enters formal
operations
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Much greater use of logical operations
and not bound by present-time. Can
use scientific reasoning, employ
probabilistic thinking; emotional
system more labile (upset with self).
Formal Operational children make
numerous attempts in creating
a philosophical or ethical
self. Meanings are important and
Formal Operational children
are capable of making choices.
• respect autonomy
• identify natural
consequences of
behavior; use of
outside sources to
identify problem
areas and develop
solutions.
• facilitate self
awareness-reflective thinking
encouraged
• support moving from
understanding to
action--ability to
make plans and
follow through are
intact, but need
support.
Wadsworth, B. J. (1996). Piaget's Theory of Cognitive and Affective Development. White Plains, NY: Longman
Press.
There are different views of cognitive development (besides Piaget). In
addition to Piaget, we look at Vygotsky, then the Information Processing Perspective.
Preoperational Children, ages nearly 3 to about 7
Pre-ops are incredibly easy to teach IF the teacher truly understands the nature of their
thinking styles (see above) and how they process information. They are extremely
delightful and starting piano during this time often results in them staying with piano
through many years. The no longer need classes that offer movement and
rhythm instruments only; they actually can learn piano if the program is structured
explicitly for them. Some of the aspects of Preoperational thought, and what we do,
are:
• Centration is the tendency to focus on one aspect of the situation and to ignore
all other aspects. It is not true attentional focus, but is just their tendency to
become 'captured' by something in the environment (a crack in the wall, a sticker,
etc). The tendency to ignore detail goes with centration. but more importantly,
children will suddenly switch what they are doing and tell you how they hurt their
finger that day. The key is to de-center them to pull their awareness back to
the issue at hand. We teach parents how to do that, too!
• Preoperational children are totally here-and-now creatures; cannot work for
something they will 'get later.' They respond incredibly well to rewards but have
to receive the reward immediately after the act.
• Pre-ops often have difficulty in distinguishing appearance from reality. This is
extremely important; Alphabet letters cannot be dressed up, etc., and any
presentation of written material must be done extremely neatly to create
relevance. • Cannot reverse thought (can't think 'backward')--for instance, cannot look at a
black key on the piano and tell you what sharp it is. Unfortunately, since the
authors of their books do not know this, we have to edit their books on the spot!
Vygotsky's Theory of Cognitive Development
Vygotsky was a well-known Russian child psychologist who, like Piaget, believed in the
interface between cognitive development and learning. Vygotsky focused more on
culture than Piaget, and believed that social learning, or learning of culturally
modeled concepts leads to development. It is a well known fact that learning should be
matched somehow with the child’s cognitive developmental level. Vygotsky said, that
when we test children to attempt to determine their mental abilities, it is assumed that
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What is Cognitive Developmental Level?
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only those things that children can do alone, on their own, are indicative of those
mental abilities. He goes on to point out why that is false; a classroom whereby children
are offered leading questions to solve problems, shown how to solve them then solve
other ‘similar’ problems, or students collaborate to solve a problem indicates
what Vygotsky believed. Vygotsky ends with stating the obvious, that even the most
profound thinkers have not noticed that what children can do with assistance of others
appears to be more indicative of their mental development [IQ] than what they can do
alone (Vygotsky, 1978).
Scaffolding is the teaching style that matches
the amount of assistance with the learner's
needs (see photo). People do not learn well
when they are either continually told what to
do, or left on their own to struggle with a
problem. However, because of the
egocentricity of preoperational children, a
special relationship must be established with
them in regards to scaffolding because of their
point of view.
Vygotsky also described the Zone of Proximal Development, and the Zone of Actual
Development.
• The Zone of Actual Development is the level at which a child is capable of
solving a problem independently.
• The Zone of Proximal Development is the level at which a child can solve
problems with support.
The Zone of Proximal Development: The difference between what a child can do by him
or herself and what a child can do with assistance defines the zone of proximal
development. It is defined by the difference between the performance of a child when
working independently and the higher level of performance when aided by an adult. The
idea of the zone of proximal development follows from Vygotsky's idea that development
starts socially, with people learning from others, then the individual internalizing what
was learned and eventually developing self-regulation skills from that process.
Preoperational children are just beginning this process.
• The Zone of Actual Development is what we want piano lessons to be, but
unfortunately, cannot be. Piano is way too hard for children to learn without
support.
• Scaffolding is the teaching style that matches the amount of assistance with the
learner's needs. People do not learn well when they are either continually told
what to do, or left on their own to struggle with a problem. However, because of
the egocentricity of preoperational children, a special relationship must be
established with them in regards to scaffolding because of their point of view.
◦ Giving just the right amount of help is tricky. The mentor needs to be in
tune with the child, knowing when to intervene, and knowing when to sit
back and allow the child to go it on her own. Children do not react well to
mentors who are not 'in tune' with their capabilities.
◦ The nature of the mentoring relationship will change as the child grows
older and the child learns more about piano.
◦ We instruct the parent, and many parents figure it out, about how their
role changes over time to help their child through the process of learning
piano.
• Private Speech is seen when a child is self-directing his or her own behavior,
usually in more complex skills. It is not directed at others, but at the child
herself, and guides the child's own behavior. Private speech is part of a child’s
problem-solving process and is accompanied by other direct attempts at attaining
the goal. Private speech develops as the child matures.
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What is Cognitive Developmental Level?
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Because children learn so much more effectively with a mentor, we ask one parent to mentor each
child through their piano instruction years.
Information Processing Perspective--emphasizes cognitive growth and continual
changing throughout development:
• Attention regulation increases during preschool years; attention 'spans' are short
but child is capable of high frequency of short spans.
◦ We have, in place effective interventions to increase "focus' and 'attention
span.' Another word is 'working memory,' which is necessary for fluent
musical performance.
◦ Your child will increase his or her own span as a reaction to wanting to
learn and play the piece we offer.
• Cognitive Representation, or the ability to hear a tune in ones head, 'see' the
alphabet in your mind's eye, etc., is not something preschoolers can do, but does
develop starting around age 6 and develops from then.
◦ We work with 'pre-representational' strategies to maximize their learning
experience.
• Memory strategies: preschoolers do not have memory strategies. They simply look
at something they have been told to remember and attempt to remember it. Their
memory is a serial representation, like a tape recorder. Later, that will change,
and we will change with it. In preschool years, their memory is impressive due this
'serial memorization' aspect, but we also know their memory fades and changes
over time. Our curriculum reflects this ongoing change.
References
Bjorklund, D. F. (1995). Children's thinking: Developmental function and individual
differences (2nd ed.). Pacific Grove, CA: Brooks Cole.
Furth, H. G. (1970). Piaget for teachers. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Plomin, R. (1994). Genetics and experience: The interplay between nature and nurture.
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
Sameroff, A. J. & Marshall, M. H. (Eds.). (1996). The five to seven year shift: The age of
reason and responsibility. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Vygotsky, L.S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological
processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Wadsworth, B. J. (1996). Piaget's theory of cognitive and affective development (5th
ed.). White Plains, NY: Longman.
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