DVP - Cognitive Development in Childhood Lesson

Learning Targets:

  • Explain the maturation of cognitive abilities (Piaget's stages, Information process).
  • Identify the contributions of major researchers in the area of cognitive development in childhood.

AP psychology course and exam description, effective fall 2020. (n.d.). https://apcentral.collegeboard.org/media/pdf/ap-psychology-course-and-exam-description.pdf

Cognitive Development

As children grow physically, they also grow mentally and, in their ability, to think. Cognition is the ability to think, reason, and remember. It was originally thought that children were just miniature versions of adults. This idea was challenged by Jean Piaget, who provides us with the most influential theory of cognitive development. Piaget was a Swiss psychologist (although he was originally trained as a biologist) who noticed that children taking the accepted IQ tests of the 1920s were often getting many answers wrong in similar ways. He also noticed that the cute things that they say are really attempts at making sense of the world. He believed that children are active thinkers rather than just passive observers of the world around them.

Piaget's theory begins with his hypothesis that children and adults have different schemas for the world around them. A schema is a concept or framework that organizes and interprets the information we gather through experience. When we try to understand new or different objects, we apply them to schemas that we already have. Incorporating new experiences into a preexisting schema is called assimilation. When we change our schema to fit the characteristics of a new object, we are using what is called accommodation. Accommodation and assimilation produce intellectual growth.

According to Piaget, a child's development depends on the maturation of the nervous system and the experiences that they have had. He believes that children progress through four distinct phases.

Stage

 Image to Include with Stage Age Description
Sensorimotor Stage playing peek-a-boo

0-2 years

Acquire knowledge about the world through actions that allow them to experience and manipulate objects. Infants expand knowledge by reaching, grasping, pulling, and pouring.

Key Feature: Object Permanence (the understanding that an object continues to exist even when it can no longer be seen) is not acquired at this stage. If an object is removed from sight, the child believes it ceases to exist.
Preoperational Stage Image illustrating object permanence

2-7 years

This is the pre-logical stage. A child begins to engage in symbolic thought. Object permanence has been gained and the child begins to use words to communicate and represent ideas. Fantasy and imagination are used during play and children in this stage illustrate egocentrism (the inability to take another person's perspective or point of view).
Concrete Operational Stage

Stick man and thought bubble

7-11 years

At this stage, the child becomes capable of true thought. They can demonstrate the concept of conservation (the principle, that Piaget believed to be a part of concrete operational reasoning, that properties such as mass, volume, and number remain the same despite changes in the forms of objects) and have learned to think logically. Mental operations can be reversed, and they can also think about items simultaneously.
Formal Operational Stage

Child fingers problem-solving

11 years on...

Problem-solving at this stage is much more systematic than during the concrete operational stage. The ability to think critically about abstract principles is achieved.

 

For a more in-depth explanation of Piaget's Stages, please take a moment to view the video below.

As Piaget is an important developmental theorist, please take a moment to test your knowledge of his stages of development.

Lev Vygotsky

Social interactions and cultural context play a significant role in shaping cognitive development, according to Lev Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. In his view, learning and development occur through interactions with others, with more knowledgeable individuals serving as guides. Based on Vygotsky's notion of the "zone of proximal development," it is important to challenge learners beyond their current competence level, to promote cognitive growth. Several of his approaches and theories emphasized the importance of social interactions and collaborative learning, which he contributed to the development of.

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