Cognitive Development Short Notes An Introduction Cognition involves mental processes

Drawing Skills A measure of intelligence and creativity (Goodenough ~ Draw-a-Man test) Analyse their inner feelings (Buck ~ House-Tree-Person test) o 0-4 months ~ Coordinate arm movement and track objects. o 4-8 months ~ manipulate objects; notice feel and smell. o 8-12 months ~ focus manipulation on a second object. o 12-20 months ~ focus on marks and produce a scribble. o 2-5 years ~ create vertical/horizontal lines and produce a representation of an object. o 5-10 years ~ compose a scene (multiple aspects of it but no grasp on dimensionality). o 10-15 years ~ development of the concept of dimensionality (representing a perspective and representing a point of view simultaneously). Hierarchal developments in motor coordination skill beyond the stage of physical maturation leads to the acquirement of crystallised intelligence. Bayley Scales of Infant Development and the Griffiths Mental Development Scales are used to categorize and understand what level of cognitive development a child is expected to reach by a particular age. Theories of Cognitive Development Nature-nurture debate as in are we born with pre-determined forms of knowledge and skills or do we acquire them through experience and instruction. Empiricist: the tabula rasa theory as proposed by John Locke ~ knowledge is accumulated through experience (perceptual learning/cognitive learning/transfer of learning). Cumulative learning is regarded as the equivalent of development (e.g. Information Processing where input = output). Rationalist: Individuals create an innate, order-imposing, mental framework (ideas from Descartes and Kant). Development involves the constant restructuring of the framework and any knowledge that is acquired is organised according to the internal framework. Learning is the data subjected to the meaning of the framework (Chomskys proposition that children have a framework called the language acquisition device). [PIAGET] Socio-historic: Involves the learning and development through apprenticeship ~ knowledge is constructed through historic accumulation and passed on through social interaction. Therefore social interaction and societal institutions have a major impact on a childs cognitive development. [VYGOTSKY]

Piagetian Theory Adopted a clinical method of interviewing and observing children. Piagets theory is constructivist: We are continually organising what we know, structuring and restructuring our knowledge. Developed the idea of the process of adaptation and change. Stage Theory ~ Four stages of thinking represented by a qualitatively different higher level domain-general structure that is applied to all areas of knowledge. This domain-general structure made up of schemas. Schemas ~ simplest mental representation of an action that can be performed on an object (sucking reflex/pushing/subtracting). Schemes are adapted. Adaptation occurs through o Assimilation ~ Applying a new experience to known scheme o Accomodation ~ Tweaking known scheme to fit context New schemes developed by combining existing ones. Reorganisation of schemes leads to development. Equilibration is the force which drives the learning process (an unpleasant state of disequilibrium occurs when new information cannot be fitted in existing schemas). Children repeat schemes until they are fluent in them, elaborate them and reorganise them. o Sensorimotor stage (0-2 yrs) ~ Coordination schemes for manipulating
objects.

o Pre-operational Stage (2-7 yrs) ~ Symbolic representational systems ~

make-believe play ~ representation through language and other symbols.

o Concrete operational stage (7-11 yrs) ~ Principle of reversibility (addition

reverses subtraction) ~ Logical thinking ~ Tests of conservation.

o Formal operational stage (11-15 yrs) ~ Understand highly abstract

theories

Vygotskian Theory Piaget stressed the importance of a childs internal constructive process. Vygtosky stressed the importance of intermental functioning and the impact of an adult or expert guidance for the child to develop the complex frameworks of understanding the world. All forms of thinking are first intermental forms of social interaction which then become internalised in the child as intramental psychological forms. Any function in the childs cultural development appears twice, on these two planes (social plane ~ interpsychological category and intrapsycholigcal category). Piaget first develop egocentric speech then interaction Vygotsky interaction leades to private speech: In their own private sphere, human beings retain the functions of social interaction. Outline of theory: o Children construct knowledge o Learning can lead to development o Development cannot be separated from its social context o Language plays a central role in mental development

Social development theory: social interaction precedes development; consciousness and cognition are the end product of socialisation and social behaviour. Zone of Proximal Development: distance between the learners ability to solve a problem independently and the learners potential level of comprehension when given guidance (More Knowledgeable Other). Learning occurs within this zone. A child internalizes concepts through social interactions. Highlights importance of prior learning. Reuven Feurstein develop Insrumental Enrichment that emphasises mediated learning. Instruction through mediation ~ tools and signs (mediators of higher thinking). Written communication is an important sign ~ abstract ~ a conscious decision to write ~ while the structure for speaking is provided unconsciously, the child has to be aware of the word and sentence structure. Instructors need to fine tune their interactions through scaffolding to guide the child along the process of internalisation. First the adult controls the activity, then adopts a supporting role, then cedes control to child. Scaffolding motivates the child, simplifies the task and makes it more achievable as well as defines the expectations of the activity to be performed. An intersubjective (intellectual empathy i.e. to understand the way a child perceives a task) process or mutual regulation is an essential factor in fine tuning the interaction between participants. Heath study: o Children from Community 1 ~ stories capture listener/suspense and exaggeration ~ difficulty to treat stories as separate from personal experience. o Children from Community 2 ~ stories stick to facts/no elaborations ~ difficulty to predict what was going to happen in the plot. o Children from Community 3 ~ exposed to different types of storybooks ~ were flexible in understanding stories (made most progress). Palinscar & Brown study for Reciprocal teaching: o Found that strategies such as questioning, summarising, clarifying and predicting aided skills in reading comprehension. o A collaborative learning group was formed where two to four pupils worked on these strategies together. o The flexibility of the technique meant that students made significant gains in their reading comprehension. Newman, Griffin, Cole study for Cooperative learning: o When put in child-child dyads, students discovered the need to use a systematic adult strategy to solve the problem at hand. o According to Vygotskian theory, cooperative projects are highly beneficial because they place an emphasis on the social nature of learning. o Moreover, when children are working together, they learn concepts that are in their zone of proximal development. Vygotskian theory focuses on the value of social experience in the childs learning and development.

Vygotskian theory elaborated on the fact that language can be a very powerful mediator and a potential barrier or promoter of learning.

Piaget emphasises individual constructivism through discovery learning as the result of individual activity, Vygotsky emphasises social constructivism in the role of the tutor or of structured tasks in promoting quicker acquisition of new concepts and ways of thinking. Neo Piagetian & Information Processing Theories Criticism of Piagetian Theory: o Domain general assumption question ~ children might gain higher level thinking in some domains and not in others. o Formal operations stage may not be reached by unschooled children. o Assimilation, accommodation and equilibration vague concepts hard to test. Neo-Piagetian psychologist Robbie Case: o Child = problem solver o Childrens activites = goal directed o Focus on active participation of the child in development of thinking. o High order structures of thinking consist of the coordination of a number of simpler schemata.