Unit 8: Cognitive Development PDF

# Unit 8: Cognitive Development Compiled by: GLYNNE P. BATE, Dev. Ed. D.- CTU Moalboal Campus ## Cognitive Development Theories The study of cognitive development is dominated by the theories of two key psychologists Piaget and Vygotsky. Other theories have been developed but they usually have fou...

# Unit 8: Cognitive Development Compiled by: GLYNNE P. BATE, Dev. Ed. D.- CTU Moalboal Campus ## Cognitive Development Theories The study of cognitive development is dominated by the theories of two key psychologists Piaget and Vygotsky. Other theories have been developed but they usually have foundations based upon these key theories. ## Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development Jean Piaget (1896-1980) was one of the most influential theorists in the field of cognitive development. Piaget was a philosopher, biologist, educationalist and psychologist. He made the decision to study scientifically the way in which children develop knowledge. ## Basic Cognitive Concepts - **Schema**: This refers to the cognitive structures by which individuals intellectually adapt to and organize their environment. It is an individual's way to understand or create meaning about a thing or experience. - **Assimilation**: This is the process of fitting a new experience into an existing or previously created cognitive structure or schema. - **Accommodation**: This is the process of creating a new schema. - **Equilibration**: This is a state of achieving proper balance between assimilation and accommodation. ## Piaget's Stages of Cognitive Development ### Stage 1. Sensori-motor stage. The first stage that corresponds from birth to infancy. This is the stage when a child who is initially reflexive in grasping, sucking and reaching becomes more organized in his movement and activity. The term sensori-motor focusses on the prominence of the senses and muscle movement through which the infant comes to learn about himself and the world. - **Object permanence**: This is the ability of the child to know that an object still exists even when out of sight. Object of permanence is an important foundation for later development. The concept that objects have an existence that is separate from the child and permanent enables the child to conceive of objects and actions that are not in their immediate environment. - **Sensorimotor intelligence**: This is an early stage of intelligence. It is intelligence so action, the infant "thinks” with action. - **Mental invention**: This is the capacity to think out an action before representing it. The infant is capable of “representation”- that is, he has the capacity for imagining the environment other than as he directly perceives it. - **Imitation**: This is the capability to copy behaviors begins with behaviors that are already part of the child's repertoire. ### Stage 2. Pre-Operational stage. The preoperational stage covers from about two to seven years old, roughly corresponding to the preschool years. Intelligence at this stage is intuitive in nature. At this stage, the child can now make mental representations and is able to pretend, the child is now ever closer to the use of symbols. - **Symbolic Function**: This is the ability to represent objects and events. It is a process whereby children learn to create their own symbols and to use existing symbol systems to represent and operate on the environment. - **Egocentrism**: This is the tendency of the child to only see his point of view and to assume that everyone also has his same point of view. - **Irreversibility**: This refers to a person's inability to mentally reverse actions. - **Animism**: This is the tendency of children to attribute human like traits or characteristics to inanimate objects. - **Transductive reasoning**: This refers to the pre-operational child's type of reasoning that is neither inductive nor deductive. ### Stage 3. Concrete-Operational Stage. This is the first stage of operational or logical thought, in which schemata allow students to realize that there is stability in the physical world and that reasoning about the physical world can proceed logically. Because the logical schemata are still new at this stage, students can best see them when considering objects and events that are concrete. Many educators refer to the concrete operation stage as the “hands on” period of cognitive development. Although the child can reason, his or her ability to reason is limited to tangible objects and direct experiences. - **Decentering**: This refers to the ability of the child to perceive the different features of objects and situations. - **Reversibility**: Is the ability to mentally reverse events, the child can now follow that certain operations can be done in reverse. - **Conservation**: This is the ability to know that certain properties of objects like number, mass, volume, or area do not change even if there is a change in appearance. - **Seriation**: This refers to the ability to order or arrange things in a series based on one dimension such as weight, volume, or size. ### Stage 4. Formal Operational Stage. This is the final stage in Piaget's theory-begins roughly around eleven or twelve years of age and continues into and throughout adulthood. Abstract reasoning is the hallmark of the formal operation stage. - **Hypothetical Reasoning**: This is the ability to come up with different hypothesis about a problem and to gather and weigh data in order to make a final decision or judgement. This can be done in the absence of concrete objects. The individuals can now deal with “What if” question. - **Analogical Reasoning**: This is the ability to perceive the relationship in one instance and then use that relationship to narrow down possible answers in another similar situation or problem. The individual in the formal operations stage can make an analogy. - **Deductive Reasoning**: This is the ability to think logically by applying a general rule to a particular instance or situation. ## From Piaget's findings and comprehensive theory, we can derive the following principles: 1. Children will provide different explanations of reality at different stages of cognitive development. 2. Cognitive development is facilitated by providing activities or situations that engage learners and require adaptation (i.e. assimilation and accommodation) 3. Learning materials and activities should involve the appropriate level of motor or mental operations for a child of given age; avoid asking students to perform tasks that are beyond their current cognitive capabilities. 4. Use teaching methods that actively involve students and present challenges. ## Vygotsky's Socio-Cultural Theory of Cognitive Development Sociocultural theory views human development as a socially mediated process in which children acquire their cultural values, beliefs, and problem-solving strategies through collaborative dialogues with more knowledgeable members of society. Vygotsky has developed a sociocultural approach to cognitive development. He developed his theories at around the same time as John Piaget was starting to develop his ideas (1920's and 30's) (McLeod (2020). Although they both believe that learners are curious and active participants in their own development and learning yet they also differ in their views on how human cognition develops. ## The Zone of Proximal Development and Scaffolding ### What is the Zone of Proximal Development? The zone of proximal development refers to the difference between what a learner can do without help and what he or she can achieve with guidance and encouragement from a skilled partner. Thus, the term “proximal” refers to those skills that the learner is “close” to mastering. ### Vygotsky's Definition of ZPD The concept, zone of proximal development was developed by Soviet psychologist and social constructivist Lev Vygotsky (1896 – 1934). The zone of proximal development (ZPD) has been defined as: "the distance between the actual developmental level as determined by independent problem solving and the level of potential development as determined through problem-solving under adult guidance, or in collaboration with more capable peers" (Vygotsky, 1978, p. 86). Vygotsky believed that when a student is in the zone of proximal development for a particular task, providing the appropriate assistance will give the student enough of a "boost" to achieve the task. ### More Knowledgeable Other The more knowledgeable other (MKO) is somewhat self-explanatory; it refers to someone who has a better understanding or a higher ability level than the learner, with respect to a particular task, process, or concept. Although the implication is that the MKO is a teacher or an older adult, this is not necessarily the case. Many times, a child's peers or an adult's children may be the individuals with more knowledge or experience. ## Social Interaction According to Vygotsky (1978), much important learning by the child occurs through social interaction with a skillful tutor. The tutor may model behaviors and/or provide verbal instructions for the child. Vygotsky refers to this as cooperative or collaborative dialogue. The child seeks to understand the actions or instructions provided by the tutor (often the parent or teacher) then internalizes the information, using it to guide or regulate the ## What is Scaffolding? Scaffolding consists of the activities provided by the educator, or more competent peer, to support the student as he or she is led through the zone of proximal development. Support is tapered off (i.e. withdrawn) as it becomes unnecessary, much as a scaffold is removed from a building during construction. The student will then be able to complete the task again on his own. ## Vygotsky and Language Vygotsky believed that language develops from social interactions, for communication purposes. Vygotsky viewed language as man's greatest tool, a means for communicating with the outside world. According to Vygotsky (1962) language plays 2 critical roles in cognitive development: 1. It is the main means by which adults transmit information to children. 2. Language itself becomes a very powerful tool of intellectual adaptation. Vygotsky (1987) differentiates between three forms of language: **social speech** which is external communication used to talk to others (typical from the age of two); **private speech** (typical from the age of three) which is directed to the self and serves an intellectual function; and finally private speech goes underground, diminishing in audibility as it takes on a self-regulating function and is transformed into silent inner speech (typical from the age of seven). For Vygotsky, thought and language are initially separate systems from the beginning of life, merging at around three years of age. At this point speech and thought become interdependent: thought becomes verbal, speech becomes representational. When this happens, children's monologues internalized to become inner speech. The internalization of language is important as it drives cognitive development. "Inner speech is not the interior aspect of external speech - it is a function in itself. It still remains speech, i.e. thought connected with words. But while in external speech thought is embodied in words, in inner speech words dies as they bring forth thought. Inner speech is to a large extent thinking in pure meanings" (Vygotsky, 1962: p. 149). Vygotsky (1987) was the first psychologist to document the importance of private speech. He considered private speech as the transition point between social and inner speech, the moment in development where language and thought unite to constitute verbal thinking. Thus private speech, in Vygotsky's view, was the earliest manifestation of inner speech. Indeed, private speech is more similar (in its form and function) to inner speech than social speech. Private speech is "typically defined, in contrast to social speech, as speech addressed to the self (not to others) for the purpose of self-regulation (rather than communication)" (Diaz, 1992, p.62). Unlike inner speech which is covert (i.e. hidden), private speech is overt. The **four levels on which the MKO scaffolds operate** *(Corpuz, et. al 2018)* 1. I do, you watch. 2. I do, you help. 3. You do, I help. 4. You do, I watch. ## Intelligence and Individual Differences ### Concept of Intelligence Alfred Binet began as an associationist for whom intelligence was a vague, general faculty of "knowing" which underlay all psychological phenomena. In 1894 he repudiated associationism, and decided that psychology could progress only through the study of individual differences. These differences are differences in intelligence—both qualitatively and quantitatively. Binet developed the very first intelligence tests to help the French government identify schoolchildren who needed extra academic assistance. He was the first to introduce the concept of mental age or a set of abilities that children of a certain age possess. Since that time, intelligence testing has emerged as a widely used tool that has led to developing many other tests of skill and aptitude. However, it continues to spur debate and controversy over the use of such testing, cultural biases that may be involved, influences on intelligence, and even the very way we define intelligence. ### General Intelligence British psychologist Charles Spearman (1863–1945) described a concept he referred to as **general intelligence** or the g factor. After using a technique known as factor analysis to examine some mental aptitude tests, Spearman concluded that scores on these tests were remarkably similar. ### Primary Mental Abilities Psychologist Louis L. Thurstone (1887–1955) offered a differing theory of intelligence. Instead of viewing intelligence as a single, general ability, Thurstone's theory focused on seven different primary mental abilities. - Associative memory: The ability to memorize and recall - Numerical ability: The ability to solve arithmetic problems - Perceptual speed: The ability to see differences and similarities among objects - Reasoning: The ability to find rules - Spatial visualization: The ability to visualize relationships - Verbal comprehension: The ability to define and understand words - Word fluency: The ability to produce words rapidly ### Multiple Intelligence Theory One of the more recent ideas to emerge is **Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligence**. Gardner proposed that the traditional idea of intelligence, based on IQ testing, did not fully and accurately depict a person's abilities. His theory proposed **eight different intelligences** based on skills and abilities that are valued in different cultures: - Bodily-kinesthetic intelligence : The ability to control your body movements and to handle objects skillfully - Interpersonal intelligence: The capacity to detect and respond appropriately to the moods, motivations, and desires of others - Intrapersonal intelligence: The capacity to be self-aware and in tune with inner feelings, values, beliefs, and thinking processes - Logical-mathematical intelligence: The ability to think conceptually and abstractly, and the capacity to discern logically or numerical patterns. - Musical intelligence: The ability to produce and appreciate rhythm, pitch, and timbre - Naturalistic intelligence: The ability to recognize and categorize animals, plants, and other objects in nature - Verbal-linguistic intelligence: Well-developed verbal skills and sensitivity to the sounds, meanings, and rhythms of words - Visual-spatial intelligence: The capacity to think in images and pictures, to visualize accurately and abstractly. ### Triarchic Theory of Intelligence. Psychologist **Robert Sternberg** defined intelligence as "mental activity directed toward purposive adaptation to, selection, and shaping of real-world environments relevant to one's life." While he agreed with Gardner that intelligence is much broader than a single, general ability, he suggested that some of Gardner's types of intelligence are better viewed as individual talents. Sternberg proposed what he referred to as "successful intelligence," which involves three different factors: - Analytical intelligence: Your ability to evaluate information and solve problems - Creative intelligence: Your ability to come up with new ideas - Practical intelligence: Your ability to adapt to a changing environment ### Cognitive Information Processing Theory The multi-store model of memory (also known as the modal model) was proposed by Richard Atkinson and Richard Shiffrin (1968) and is a structural model. They proposed that memory consisted of three stores: a sensory register, short-term memory (STM) and long-term memory (LTM). #### The Memory Stores Each store is a unitary structure and has its own characteristics in terms of encoding capacity and duration. #### Encoding is the way information is changed so that it can be stored in the memory. There are three main ways in which information can be encoded (changed): 1. visual (picture) 2. acoustic (sound), 3. semantic (meaning). **Capacity** concerns how much information can be stored. **Duration** refers to the period of time information can last in the memory stores. #### Sensory Memory - Duration: 1/4 to 1/2 second - Capacity: all sensory experience (v. larger capacity) - Encoding: sense specific (e.g. different stores for each sense) The sensory stores are constantly receiving information but most of this receives no attention and remains in the sensory register for a very brief period. In the sensory memory, information arrives from the 5 senses such as sight (*visual information*), sounds and touch. The sensory memory store has a large capacity but a very brief duration, it can encode information from any of the senses and most of the information is lost through decay. Attention is the first step in remembering something, if a person's attention is focused on one of the sensory stores then the data is transferred to STM. #### Short Term Memory - Duration: 0-18 seconds - Capacity: 7 +/- 2 items - Encoding: mainly auditory The STM store has a duration of up to 30 seconds, has a capacity of 7+/-2 chunks and mainly encodes information acoustically. Information is lost through displacement or decay. Maintenance rehearsal is the process of verbally or mentally repeating information, which allows the duration of shortterm memory to be extended beyond 30 seconds. An example of maintenance rehearsal would be remembering a phone number only long enough to make the phone call. This type of rehearsal usually involves repeating information without thinking about its meaning or connecting it to other information. Continual rehearsal “regenerates” or “renews” the information in the memory trace, thus making it a stronger memory when transferred to the Long Term store. If maintenance rehearsal (repetition) does not occur, then information is forgotten, and lost from short term memory through the processes of displacement or decay. #### Long Term Memory - Duration: Unlimited - Capacity: Unlimited - Encoding: Mainly Semantic (but can be visual and auditory) The LTM has unlimited capacity and duration and encodes information semantically. Information can be recalled from LTM back into the STM when it is needed. If the information is given meaning (elaborative rehearsal) it is passed on to the LTM. Elaborative rehearsal involves the process of linking new information in a meaningful way with information already stored in long-term memory. For example, you could learn the lines in a play by relating the dialogue and behavior of your character to similar personal experiences you remember. Elaborative rehearsal is more effective than maintenance rehearsal for remembering new information as it helps to ensure that information is encoded well. It is a deeper level of information-processing. ## Language Development Language and communication skills are critical to a child's development. Good communication makes them better able to engage in socialization as well as learn from formal classroom instruction and the environment around them. Communication involves both speech and language. Speech is the verbal means of communication, and language is using shared rules to put words together to express thoughts and feelings. Since parents are a child's first teacher, knowledge of language development in children improves a parent's ability to interact with their child to stimulate and guide them to understand and communicate with their environment. There are four main components of language: Phonology involves the rules about the structure and sequence of speech sounds. Semantics consists of vocabulary and how concepts are expressed through words. Grammar involves two parts. The first, syntax, is the rules in which words are arranged into sentences. The second, morphology, is the use of grammatical markers (indicating tense, active or passive voice, etc.). Pragmatics involves the rules for appropriate and effective communication. Pragmatics involves three skills: using language for greeting, demanding, etc. changing language for talking differently depending on who it is you're talking to following rules such as turn-taking and staying on topic From birth on, children are programmed to develop speech and language. The first five years are most critical, but language development continues throughout early childhood and into adolescence. During the first five years, stimulation of language development is essential as the brain is developing new nerve cells as well as multiple connections between these cells to serve the function of expressive and receptive language. Lack of stimulation during this time could result in a child making slower progress or end up with poor communication skills. Later, we provide some tips for parents on how to help with language development, but some simple suggestions are to spend lots of time talking, singing, and reading to your child. In the early stages of language development, the brain is programmed to attend to speech sounds and begin to mimic them. Early on, babies like to make sounds up on their own. Later they attempt to repeat sounds and words they're exposed to from their environment. Children usually say their first words between nine and 18 months old. The most common first words are either "mama" or "dada." What's interesting is no matter what language children are taught, the first words usually reference either mother or father. By about 18 months, a child usually has a vocabulary of 50 to 150 words. Children at this age begin to put a couple of words together to form a sentence sometimes referred to as “telegraphic speech,” such as “Mommy ball” or “Mommy throw ball.” By two-years-old, they can typically use over 300 words and understand about 1,000 words. Around three years of age, children begin to use language for all kinds of things. They're not only trying to get what they want by asking, but they're also talking about past experiences and even beginning to use it to pretend. By preschool (4 1/2) they're beginning to understand and use the rules of language to express possession of something, connect thoughts and quantify. Their language is becoming more like that of adults. In elementary school, children continue to expand their use of oral language and are also learning to read a write. As children progress through middle school and high school, they continue to expand their vocabulary, refine their grammatical skills and write in more complexities as well as continue to develop reading comprehension skills. ## Stages of First Language Acquisition When we talk about language acquisition, a common point of reference is the stages of first language acquisition that nearly all babies go through. - **Pre-talking**. This stage takes place from birth to around six months of age. During this time, the child does not speak, but is beginning to understand short words and phrases that are central to their needs and interests. - **Babbling**. The babbling phase occurs from around six to eight months old. In this phase, the infant begins to “babble” and makes noises and syllables that are not yet words. Physically, teeth begin to appear and the muscles in the mouth required for speech begin to develop. - **Holophrastic**.The holophrastic stage is significantly longer, occurring between nine and eighteen months old. During this phase, the infant begins to learn and speak single words. In the beginning, these words are strongly centered around basic needs and interests as well as names or identifiers like "mama" and "dada." - **Two-word**. This stage takes place from eighteen to twenty-four months old. Once children have developed single word speech, they begin to pair groups of words together into mini-sentences and phrases like “I want” or “give me.” - **Telegraphic**. The telegraphic stage takes place from two to three years old. Over time, children begin to expand their two-word phrases into short sentences. They also begin to utilize lexical morphemes to make the words they use fit the sentence. For example, they understand to use the plural “boys” instead of “boy” when referring to a group of boys. - **Multi-word**. Past the age of three, most children fall into the multiword stage. In this final stage of language acquisition, children now learn to use functional morphemes to change the meaning of the words they use. Examples include the words but, in, the, and that. ## Language Development Timelines ### Infant (Birth to 18 months) #### Birth to 6 Months - Vocalization with intonation - Responds to his name - Responds to human voices without visual cues by turning his head and eyes - Responds appropriately to friendly and angry tones #### Six to 12 Months - Uses one or more words with meaning (this may be a fragment of a word) - Understands simple instructions, especially if vocal or physical cues are given - Practices inflection Is aware of the social value of speech - Is aware of the social value of speech #### 12 to 18 Months - Has a vocabulary of approximately 5-20 words - Vocabulary made up chiefly of nouns - Some echolalia (repeating a word or phrase over and over) - Much jargon with emotional content Is able to follow simple commands ### Toddler (18 months to 3years) #### 18 Το 24 Months - Can name a number of objects common to his surroundings - Is able to use at least two prepositions, usually chosen from the following: in, on, under - Combines words into a short sentence—largely noun-verb combinations (mean) length of sentences is given as 1.2 words - Approximately 2/3 of what a child says should be intelligible - The vocabulary of approximately 150-300 words - Rhythm and fluency are often poor Volume and pitch of voice are not yet well-controlled - Can use two pronouns correctly: I, me, and you—although me and I are often confused - "My" and "mine" are beginning to emerge - Responds to such commands as “show me your eyes (nose, mouth, hair)” #### Two to Three Years - Use pronouns I, you, and me correctly - Is using some plurals and past tenses - Knows at least three prepositions, usually in, on, under - Knows chief parts of the body and should be able to indicate these if not name them - Handles three-word sentences easily - Has around 900-1000 words About 90% of what the child says should be intelligible - Verbs begin to predominate Understands most simple questions dealing with his environment and activities - Relates his experiences so that they can be followed with reason - Able to reason out such questions as “what must you do when you're sleepy, hungry, cool, or thirsty?" - Should be able to give his sex, name, age - Should not be expected to answer all questions even though he understands what is expected ### Preschooler (3-5 years) #### Three to Four Years - Knows names of familiar animals - Can use at least four prepositions or can demonstrate his understanding of their meaning when given commands - Names common objects in picture books or magazines - Knows one or more colors - Can repeat 4 digits when they're given slowly - Can usually repeat words of four syllables - Demonstrates understanding of over and under - Has most vowels and diphthongs and the consonants p, b, m, w, n well established - Often indulges in make-believe - Extensive verbalization as he carries out activities - Understands such concepts as longer, larger, and when a contrast is presented - Readily follows simple commands even though the stimulus objects are not in sight - Much repetition of words, phrases, syllables, and even sounds #### Four to Five Years - Uses possessives Uses double negatives Joins sentences - Can answer how, who, and when questions - Follows up to 4 step directions Uses the third person Tells simple jokes Says his full name - Knows an average of 900 words - Shows rapid language development - Uses sentences that are three to four words long - Mispronounces 40 percent of speech sounds - Enjoys listening to stories - Understands more words than he is able to use - Asks simple who and what questions - Tells simple events in sequence - Demonstrates beginning phonological awareness (hearing and recognizing the sounds of language) - Uses words to express ideas and feelings - Usually follows requests and can be reasoned with #### Five to Six Years - In addition to the above consonants these should be mastered: f, v, sh, zh, th, I - He should have concepts of 7 - Speech should be completely intelligible and socially useful Should be able to tell one a rather connected story about a picture, seeing relationships between objects and happenings #### Six to Seven Years - Should have mastered the consonants s-z, r, voiceless th, ch, wh, and the soft g, as in George. - Should handle opposite analogies easily: girl-boy, man-woman, flies-swims, blunt-sharp, shortlong, sweet-sour, etc. - Understands such terms as: alike, different, beginning, end, etc. - Should be able to tell time to quarter hour - Should be able to do simple reading and to write or print many words #### Seven to Eight Years - Begins to use reference books - Enjoys reading aloud - Enjoys mysteries, adventure stories, and biographies - Adjusts language and vocabulary to fit an audience, topic, or purpose - Develops vocabulary from textbooks and personal reading - Gives precise directions and instructions for more complex activities and tasks - Tells and retells stories in a formal storytelling format using descriptive language, story elements, and voice to create interest and mood - Demonstrates effective listening skills by exhibiting appropriate body language - Uses a variety of simple and compound sentences of varied lengths