THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF ZANIZBAR

21st June, 2011

DED 101EDUCATIONAL

PSYCHOLOGY, GUIDANCE AND COUNSELING

OUTLINEMeaning of Cognitive Development Importance of cognitive DevelopmentConcepts related to cognitive development

AssimilationAdaptationAccommodationSchemes

Characteristics of cognitive developmentStages of cognitive development (j. Piaget)

DEFINITIONS• (Oxford Concise Dictionary:2009) defines cognition as the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.

• (Baron; 1999) defines cognition as the term used to describe thinking and many other aspects of our higher mental processes , including thinking, reasoning, decision making, problem solving and creativity.

• (Hayes;2002) defines Cognitive development as a process through which people develop more sophisticated methods of understanding or perceiving information, opinions, theories, or facts.

• (Albert; 1999) defines cognitive development as the transitions people make from a simple understanding of their world to a more complex understanding.

IMPORTANCE OF COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT

•Provides insight into student perspectives (By understanding how students perceive and process information, we can gain insight into how students see the problems they are presented)

•Helps instructors appreciate how students understand or perceive information

•Allows instructors to appropriately tailor information or questions

Piaget’s Theory

• Piaget was interested in:• how we develop our understanding of the things around us• How kids come to know day-to-day things adults take for granted

• Piaget theory of cognitive development is a stage theory – a type of theory suggesting that all human beings move through an orderly and predictable series of change.

• Piaget’s theory of cognitive development is referred to constructivism . According to Piaget, children "construct" their understanding of the world through their active involvement and interactions

Characteristics of Piaget’s Stages

• Reflect an underlying mental structures (psychological units of the mind that enable us to think and know)

• Describe a person in a state of equilibrium (balance between assimilation and accommodation )

• Must follow the order developed by Piaget• Cannot skip stages• Composed partly of preparation and party of achievement

• Found in all cultures - Universal

Schemes • Are patterns of behavior that children and adults use in dealing with

objects in the world i.e. schemas refers to the knowledge about something; a child’s idea of a task, concept, item, etc.

• Organized ways of making sense of experience.

• Schemas can be:• Simple : Example. when the baby knows how to grasp an object

within reach• Complex Example p when a secondary school student learns how

to solve mathematical problems.

• Change with age • Action-based (motor patterns) at first

• Later move to a mental (thinking) level

ADAPTATION•Is a process in which individuals build mental representations of the world through direct interaction with it. In other words, children come to construct increasingly advanced and accurate representations of the world through their experience in it.

•Adaption involves two basic components:•Assimilation•Accommodation

ASSIMILATION•This is the tendency to fit new information to existing mental frameworks i.e. to understand the world in terms of existing concepts and schemas (adding new info to current understanding)

•Example; if a child goes to a zoo sees a whale and says” Look at the fish”

ACCOMODATION

•This is the tendency to change existing concepts or mental frameworks in response to new information or new recognizable dimensions of the external world (incorporating new info into current info = Learning i.e. Adjusting old schemes, creating new ones to better fit environment

• Example; if the same child later comes to realize that not all animals that swim in the water are fish, this illustrates accommodation

Four Major Stages of Cognitive Development

1. Sensorimotor (0-2 years)2. Preoperational (2-7 years)3. Concrete Operations (7-11

years)4. Formal Operations (12+

years)

Sensorimotor Stage (0-2 years)• Infant’s world consists of the immediate environment

• Interact and learn by sensory input (hearing, feeling, seeing)

•Gradually learn to control their own bodies and objects in the external world.

•The ultimate task at this stage is to achieve the sense that objects go on existing even when we cannot see them (Object Constancy/Permanence).

Source : (Ellyn and Bacon:2001)

Rules for Toddlers

•If I like it, it’s mine.•If it’s in my hand, it’s mine.•If I can take it from you, it’s mine.•If I had it a little while ago, it’s mine.•If it’s mine, it must never appear to be yours in any way.

Rules for Toddlers, continued

• If I’m doing or building something, all the pieces are mine.

• If it looks like mine, it’s mine.• If I saw it first, it’s mine.• If you are playing with something, and you put it down, it automatically becomes mine.

• If it’s broken,

it’s yours!Source : (Ellyn and Bacon:2001)

Source : (Ellyn and Bacon:2001)

Sensorimotor Sub stages

Reflexive Schemes Birth –1 month

Newborn reflexes

Primary Circular Reactions

1 – 4 months Simple motor habits centered around own body

Secondary Circular Reactions

4 – 8 months Repeat interesting effects in soundings

Coordination of Secondary Circular Reactions

8 – 12 months Intentional, goal-directed behavior; object permanence

Tertiary Circular Reactions

12 – 18 months

Explore properties of objects through novel actions

Mental Representations

12 months – 2 years

Internal depictions of objects or events; deferred imitation

Source : (Ellyn and Bacon:2001)

Object Permanence

•Understanding that objects continue to exist when out of sight

•According to Piaget, develops in Sub stage 4

Source : (Ellyn and Bacon:2001)

Mental Representations

According to Piaget, develops in Sub stage 6

Internal, mental depictions/representations of informationImages: objects, people, placesConcepts: categoriesCan manipulate with mindAllow:• Deferred/postponed imitation • Make-believe play

Mental Representations: Dual Representation

• Viewing a symbolic object as both an object and a symbol

• Mastered around age 3• Adult teaching can help

Provide lots of maps, photos, drawings, make-believe playthings, etc.

Point out similarities to real world

Evaluation of the Sensorimotor Stage

How Piaget was right

Timing of: • Object search, • A-not-B, • Make-believe play

How Piaget might have been wrong

• Timing of object permanence, deferred imitation, categorization, problem-solving by analogy • All occur sooner than Piaget thought

Some suggest infants are born with core knowledge in several domains of thought

Source : (Ellyn and Bacon:2001)

Preoperational Stage (2-6/7 years)

•Developing ability to manipulate images and symbols, i.e. language develops

•Play becomes key in learning. Begin to see use of symbolism in pretend play (e.g. Use a broomstick as a “horsey”)

•Child’s view of the world is egocentric and animistic thinking

•Logical organization of thoughts remains undeveloped e.g. a child Cannot perform mental operations

Source : (Ellyn and Bacon:2001)

Egocentrism

Failure to distinguish others’ views from one’s own

Animistic Thinking

Belief that inanimate objects have lifelike qualities

Source : (Ellyn and Bacon:2001)

Evaluation of the Preoperational Stage

How Piaget was right

Preschoolers do develop beginnings of logical thinking

How Piaget might have been

wrong

Logical thinking develops more gradually than Piaget thought

Source : (Ellyn and Bacon:2001)

Concrete Operations (6/7-12 Years)

•Perform logical operations, but only in relation to concrete objects, not abstract ideas.

•Basic math skills developed (counting, addition, subtraction) as well as an understanding of conservation.

•Can sort items into categories, reverse the direction of their thinking, and think about two concepts simultaneously.

•Able to understand a situation from another person’s perspective i.e. Egocentric thought diminishes.

Teaching the Concrete Operational Child(Middle Childhood)

Continue to use concrete props and visual aids, especially when dealing with sophisticated material.

•Provide time-lines for history lessons. •Provide three-dimensional models in science.

Continue to give students a chance to manipulate objects and test out their ideas. •Demonstrate simple scientific experiments in which the students can participate. •Show craftwork to illustrate daily occupations of people of an earlier period.

Make sure that lectures and readings are brief and well organized. •Use materials that present a progression of ideas from step to step. •Have students read short stories or books with short, logical chapters, moving to longer reading assignments only when the students are ready.

Ask students to deal with no more than three or four variables at a time. •Require readings with a limited number of characters. •Demonstrate experiments with a limited number of steps.

Use familiar examples to help explain more complex ideas so students will have a beginning point for assimilating new information.

•Compare students' own lives with those of the characters in a story. •Use story problems in mathematics.

Give opportunities to classify and group objects and ideas on increasingly complex levels.

•Give students separate sentences on slips of paper to be grouped into paragraphs. •Use outlines, hierarchies, and analogies to show the relationship of unknown new material to already acquired knowledge.

Present problems which require logical, analytical thinking to solve. •Provide materials such as Mind Twisters, Brain Teasers, and riddles. •Focus discussions on open-ended questions which stimulate thinking (e.g., are the mind and the brain the same thing?)

(Source; Henry 2000)

Formal Operations (12+ years)

•Begin to think logically and abstractly, including speculations about what might happen in the future.

•Theoretical, philosophical, and scientific reasoning becomes possible

•Abstract concepts and moral values become as important as concrete objects.

•With these newly developed thinking abilities, adolescents begin to reinterpret and revise their knowledge base.

Consequences of Abstract Thought

•Self-Consciousness & Self-Focusing• Imaginary audience•Sensitivity to criticism•Personal fable

• Idealism and Criticism•Problems with Decision Making• Inexperience•Overwhelming options

Summary of Piaget’s Stages of Cognitive Development

ApproximateAge

Stage Major Developments

Birth to 2 years Sensorimotor Use sensory and motor capabilities to explore and understand environmentObject PermanenceSeparation Anxiety

2 to 7 years Preoperational Representational ThoughtBegin to use symbols

7 to 12 years Concrete Operational

Begin to think logicallyPrinciple of Conservation

12 years and beyond Formal Operational Metacognition/ systematicDevelop abstract thought

Strengths of Piaget’s Theory

•One of the first formal, comprehensive theories on child development

•Children as active, constructive thinkers•Methodology – interested in why kids got wrong answers

•Observation methods•Cognitive growth: partial accomplishments vs. complete appearance at once

Weaknesses of Piaget’s Theory

•Estimates of time related to children’s competencies

•Development does not always occur in a stage-like fashion

•Children can be trained to be at the next stage

Mnemonic forPiaget’s Four Stages

• Examples:

•Sometimes Piaget Can Frustrate!Or

•Sophomore Psychologists Can’t Fail!

What does this mean for teaching?

•Meaningful learning cannot occur if a child is not able to accommodate or assimilate due to mental maturity.

•If the majority of your students are concrete learners, you must provide certain methods for learning to occur.

Implications of Piaget’s Theory for Teachers

•Understanding students’ thinking•‘Match’ teaching to cognitive stage•Presentation strategies•Illustrations and examples•Assignments

END OF LECTURE FIVE

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