Human growth and development: cognitive development

Abstract
Cognitive development is the major area of study within developmental psychology.
Developmental psychology is defined by Birch A. (1998) as the study of the psychological
change that takes place between birth and old age. (p.1).The aim of developmental psychology
is to explain and describe the change that occurs from birth though to adulthood.
However, during childhood there is the greatest amount of change and the most dramatic
development. Therefore, the development that occurs during the period of birth to adolescence is
commonly the focus of developmental psychology. Developmental psychology includes the
study of all aspects of childrens psychological developmental. This includes physical, social,
language and emotional, intellectual and cognitive development. Our paper will focus on
cognitive development.

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Introduction
Before 1920s when Piaget began with children most Psychologists assumed that children reason
in essentially the same way as adults. Piaget challenged this view insisting that the thought of
infants and children is qualitatively distinct, not a miniature version of adult thought ( Thomas L.
C, Corrine H. C and James W. V. Z, 2009). For example when children say that their shadow
follows them when they go a walk or that dreams come through the window, they are not being
illogical instead they are operating from a different mental framework from that of an adult. As
children grow up, the form of their thought changes.
Definition
Cognitive Development refers to the normal development of thought and intellectual processes;
imagination, reasoning, perception, problem solving, etc. We see this in how children develop,
grow and learn new skills and perceptions as they mature.
Piaget J. (1952) demonstrates this definition above through his theory that emphasizes how
children learn through exploration of their environment. An adults role in this, is to provide
children with appropriate experience.
Theory of Cognitive Development
The theory of cognitive development according to Piaget J. (1952) is a comprehensive theory
about the nature and development of human intelligence.Furthermore, Torres J. and Ash M.
(2007) stipulate that, this theory deals with the nature of knowledge itself and how humans
gradually come to acquire, construct and use it.They believed that children construct an
understanding of the world around them, experience discrepancies between what they already

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know and what they discover in their environment, and then adjust their ideas
accordingly.Despite its huge success, Piaget's theory has some limitations that Piaget recognized
himself: for example, the theory supports sharp stages rather than continuous development
(Baldwin, J. 2005).
Stages of cognitive development
Piaget J. (1952), developing his theory on cognitive development, looked at the observational
studies of cognition in children. He indicated that young children think strikingly different as
compared to adults and believed that children undergo four universal stages of cognitive
development.Shaffer. (1985), on his part confirmed that in these stages, the child constructs a
mental view of the world.The stages of Piagets cognitive development are as follow:
Sensorimotor Stage (Birth-2 years)
This is the first stage of cognitive development. The main focus is that thechild develops the
ability to recognize that objects exist even when they are not in view. The principal achievement
during this stage is object permanence; child should know that an object still exists, even when it
is out of view. It requires the childs ability to form a mental representation known as the schema
of an object (Robert, 1982). Children at this stage look for ways to understand their environment
by interacting with it. The child is simply ego-centric by considering everything in their own
view.
Pre-operational Stage (2-7 years)
When the child reaches this stage, they are able to think about things symbolically. Here, the
child develops an ability to make one thing out of another - a word or an object that it stands

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for something other than itself (Staseen, 2011).However, their thinking is still egocentric, and
they have difficulty taking the viewpoint of others. Intelligence is demonstrated through the use
of symbols, language use matures, and memory and imagination are developed, but thinking is
done in a non-logical, nonreversible manner. For example if you ask a 5-year- old child why it
snows the he/she will properly answer so children can play in it.
Concrete Operational Stage (7-11 years)
This is the stage which Piaget considered the major turning point in the child's cognitive
development. The reason for this is that it marks the beginning of logical or operational thought
of the child. This basically means that children can work things out internally in their mind
(rather than physically trying things out in the real world).Their imagination expands. Children
can conserve number, mass, and weight. Conservation is the understanding that something stays
the same in quantity even though its appearance changes (Staseen, 2011).At this stage the child
also considers other peoples views of the world around them, they are no longer ego-centric, and
that is looking at things not only from their point view.
Formal Operational Stage (11 years and over)
This is the final stage of cognitive development of an individual according to Piaget. It begins
approximately at age of eleven and goes up to adulthood. During this time, the individual
develops the ability to think about abstract concepts, and logically test hypotheses. In this stage,
intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract
concepts(Robert, 1982) .When the individual attains this stage; they are able to think rationally
and systematically about abstract concepts.

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The importance of Cognitive development to the teacher

Children seem to develop cognitively at a remarkable speed, and they seemingly do so without
much input from parents or teachers. However, both conscious and unconscious efforts to spur
cognitive thinking enhance a childs cognitive development. From actively pushing children
toward cognitively engaging behaviors to the simple act of playing with a child, parents and
teachers boost the cognitive development process in their children.
The art of teaching: Pushing children to think
Parents and teachers share one commonality: They both teach. This goes without saying for
teachers, but whether parents realize it or not, the parent is an important teacher of cognitive
skills. Both in playing the role model and in engaging in parent-child discussions, parents
educate their children on problem-solving, critical thinking skills and self-control all cognitively
engaging tasks. From the standpoint of general cognitive growth, both parents and teachers push
children in a direction in which using their brains is essential. Without parents or teachers,
children would be mostly left on their own to develop their cognitive skill sets, which is unlikely
to happen given the natural human tendency of spending as little energy as possible.
Sweeping away negative emotions: inviting cognitive development
Parents and children also play an important role in helping children free up cognitive resources.
According to the article Long-term effects of parental divorce on parent-child relationships,
which appeared in the Journal of Family Psychology, because stress gets in the way of cognitive
development, this role is especially important for growing children. A harmonious home and
classroom can alleviate the emotional stress, an often overlooked cognitive burden, allowing
children to better focus on cognitive tasks. In fact, freedom from emotional stress is so important

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that the study in the Journal of Family Psychology found that children with large amounts of
relationship problems tend to have lower grades than their more emotionally stable peers.
Thinking before action
Part of cognitive development is related to the development of understanding social situations
and acquiring the appropriate actions to deal with others. Unfortunately, this aspect of cognitive
development cannot be learned without outside influences, namely adult role-models such as
parents and teachers. For example, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services point out
that father plays an integral role in shaping a childs ability to act prosaically. Likewise, the
morals mothers and teachers instill help a child be more conscious of how her behaviors affect
others. In this respect, parents and teachers have an important responsibility of paying attention
to their own actions, lest children pick up adults bad habits.
Playing Yields Smart Kids
Adult-to-children play is a hidden method of encouraging cognitive development. Unlike peerto-peer play, which is characterized by pretending, adult-to-child play tends to be characterized
either by cognitive engagement or emotional engagement. For example, mothers tend to engage
in educational games with their children, solving puzzles or playing story games. Fathers tend to
engage in emotionally intense games, such as playing airplane or fast-past outdoor games.
Teachers also use games in the classroom, mixing education with emotion such as through class
competitions. All of these forms of play indirectly force children to engage in cognitive thinking
at a level they would not reach playing with their peers.

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Limits of Piaget cognitive development associated in a school set up

Firstly, Piagets theory itself has been criticized for being too rigid with claims made that young
children can acquire higher order thinking skills at an age earlier than proposed (Elliot, 2007).
Piaget was also seen to underestimate the impact that social and cultural background had on the
differences in the way that children develop. Further to this, he did not take into account the
amount children can learn from each other and attached all of his emphasis on the stages of
development (Elliot, 2007).
Secondly, if it is accepted that learning is social interaction, it follows that circumstances that
make this interaction desirable become a necessary prerequisite of effective learning. This
hinders the effectiveness of the theory as it shows that learning cannot be continued if any
physical attribute was changed and this limits the durability of this type of learning (Cooper and
McIntyre, 1996).
Furthermore, it can be argued that interaction between a pupil and his or her peers requires a
particular quality of the pupils self-image: his or her sense of self-worth and belief in his or her
ability to take on and solve problems should be strong enough to sustain discussion when ones
own thought is countered in public. This requires an environment that is supportive of individual
thought, one in which the pupil feels valued and respected by the other people that they are
expected to interact with. If this is not available then the pupil may struggle to learn and this type
of dependency is not optimal for learning. This shows that learning from others may not be the
best way for learning to take place within a classroom environment, as it cannot be sustained
outside the classroom (Cooper and McIntyre, 1996).

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Thirdly, this transactional model requires calibration (Bruner 1987) so that there is development
of the idea of intersubjectivity. Calibration occurs when teachers and pupils test their
understanding against those held by others, and adjust their utterances in order to make them
accessible to others. Teachers and pupils must learn how to project their knowledge on to each
other effectively so that others can have optimal access to it as well as be able to accept and
adapt their own views when the discussion has taken place. This is difficult to do and limits the
practicality of the theory whilst suggesting that the Constructive thought is not entirely needed to
allow learning to take place (Cooper and McIntyre, 1996).
Conclusion
Cognitive development has being one of the most active areas of research in developmental
science. It gave the mental framework of childrens perception of the world and how human
beings develop their thinking ability. Yet the range of issues investigated has been relatively
narrow and based primarily on Piaget's theory of cognitive development, school-related concerns
about the testing of intelligence and achievement which cannot explain fully the process of
development of an individual.
Besides there is a growing emphasis on constructing, using methods and statistics that allow
direct tests of cognitive-developmental hypotheses, in place of traditional methods and statistics,
which often do not allow appropriate tests.

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