COGNITIVE

DEVELOPMENT

This multimedia product and its contents are protected under copyright law. The following are prohibited by law:
any public performance or display, including transmission of any image over a network;
preparation of any derivative work, including the extraction, in whole or in part, of any images;
any rental, lease, or lending of the program.

Allyn & Bacon

Learning Domains
Cognitive

intellect / thinking (facts,

concepts, procedures)

Affective

beliefs / values / attitudes

Psychomotor

movement / physical
activities (voluntary muscles)
Allyn & Bacon

Developing and Nurturing the

Whole Student
Cognitive
Subject

content
Critical thinking
Lifelong learning
Social
Emotional
Moral
Physical
Allyn & Bacon

Definition of Development
3

Questions Across Theories

What

is the source of development?

Nature

vs. Nurture
Impossible to separate, both are critical
What

is the shape of development?

Continuity

vs, Discontinuity
Is progress gradual, or in stages?
Timing:

Is it too late?

Are

there critical periods where certain

abilities need to develop?
sensitive periods may be a better descriptor
of when children are especially responsive to
certain experiences
Allyn & Bacon

Types of Developmental
Change
Development: orderly, adaptive
changes beginning at conception
and ending with death. Four types:
Physical

changes in body
Personal changes in personality
Social changes in relating to others
Cognitive changes in thinking

Allyn & Bacon

Principles of
Development
Rates

differ
Orderly
Gradual

Allyn & Bacon

Brain
Development
Storing and transferring information

neurons
Experience-expectant overproduction
and pruning
Experience-dependent
overproduction and pruning
Both are dependent upon stimulation
Stimulating

environments help the pruning

process in early life (experience-expectant
period)
Stimulating environments support increased
synapse development in adulthood
(experience-dependent period)

Pruning

is necessary for cognitive

development
Allyn & Bacon

Brain Development
(continued)
Cerebral Cortex
largest part of brain
develops more slowly, and is more
sensitive to environmental
influences
Involved with complex problemsolving
and language
Specialization and integration
Specialization - lateralization of 2
hemispheres
oRight spatial/artistic
oLeft speech/language
Each hemisphere controls the
opposite
Allyn & Bacon

Brain-Based Education
Early

stimulation for brain development

Mozart

Right/Left

effect: super stimulation of neurons

Brain Instruction

Right-brained

(left-handed) artistic and spatial

orientations
Left-brained (right-handed) math, science,
logic orientations
Where

begin?

does science end, and speculation

Allyn & Bacon

Instruction and Brain

Development
Experiences

and direct teaching cause

changes in the organization and
structure of brain
Implications for teachers:
Cognitive

functions are differentiated;

learners tend to have preferred modes of
processing (visual, auditory, kinesthetic)
Teachers must provide enriched
environments and use flexible instructional
strategies that address the different
modalities of students
Allyn & Bacon

Theories of Cognitive
Development
1.

Piagets Cognitive Theory of

Development (Stage Theory)

2.

Vygotskys Sociocultural Perspective

3.

neo-Piagetian Theories
Allyn & Bacon

Piaget: Basic Tendencies

in Thinking
Organization
Schemes

/ schema: basic building blocks of

thinking; mental systems or categories of
perception and experience that allow us to
mentally think about objects/events

Adaptation

(adapting to the environment)

Assimilation

fit new info into existing schema

Accommodation new info requires modification
of existing schema

Equilibration
Equilibrium

existing schema works in new

situation
Disequilibrium - existing schema does NOT work
in new situation; where learning occurs
Allyn & Bacon

Piagets Stages of
Cognitive
Development

Sensorimotor

Pre-operational
Concrete

operations
Formal operations
Summary of stages Table 2.2, p. 45

Allyn & Bacon

Sensorimotor
Stage: 02 years
Learning

through 5

senses
Object permanence
Goal directed actions

Allyn & Bacon

Rules for
Toddlers
If

I like it, its mine.

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

Allyn & Bacon

Rules for Toddlers,

continued
If

Im doing or building something, all

the pieces are mine.
If it looks like mine, its mine.
If I saw it first, its mine.
If you are playing with something,
and you put it down, it automatically
becomes mine.
If its broken,

its yours!
Allyn & Bacon

Preoperational
Stages: 27
Operations-

actions carried out and

reversed mentally rather than physically
Semiotic function using symbols
One-way logic cannot reverse thinking
Difficulty with decentering & conservation
Egocentrism (collective monologue)
others experience the world just as you do
Language develops

Allyn & Bacon

Concrete Operational Stages: Ages

7-11
Hands

on thinking
Concepts mastered:
Conservation

(amount unchanged if nothing added or

removed)
Identity (material remains the same if nothing added or
removed)
Compensation (change in one direction compensates for
a change in the other direction)
Reversibility

(mental)
Classification
Seriation orderly arrangement (largest to
smallest)

Allyn & Bacon

Formal
Operational
Stage: Ages 11
15
Not all individuals reach
this stage
Hypothetico-deductive
reasoning
(hypothesizing/general to
specific)
Scientific reasoning
Adolescent egocentrism
& imaginary audience
Allyn & Bacon

Limitations of Piaget
Stage

theory inconsistencies
Emphasis on stages (catastrophe
theory)
Underestimating children's abilities
(tasks were too difficult and
directions confusing)
Roll of cognitive development &
information processing (attention,
memory, learning strategies)
Overlooks influence of cultural and
social groups

Allyn & Bacon

Implications of
Piagets Theory for
Teachers
Understanding
students thinking
Individuals

construct knowledge;
learning is an ACTIVE process
Value of play: play is a childs work
Guidelines
Match teaching to cognitive stage:
Hunts problem of the match
Presentation strategies
Illustrations and examples
Assignments
Use disequilibrium (at a just right
level) to motivate
Allyn & Bacon

Implications of Piagets
Theory for Teachers
Hunts

problem of the match

Difficulty

level of material must match

the ability level of the student
If material is too easy, students become
bored
If the material is too difficult, students
become frustrated

Neo-Piagetian Views
Combine

Piagets insights with

information-processing factors
(attention, memory, learning strategies)
Case:
different

stages in different domains

practice automaticity free memory
experience and involvement necessary to
advance
Siegler

(rule assessment):

Children

develop better rules and strategies

for problem-solving through experience
Allyn & Bacon

Vygotskys Sociocultural
Perspective
Knowledge

is co-constructed (interactions)

Interpsychological
Intrapsychological

Scaffolding
Zone

of Proximal Developmentwhere real

learning occurs
Social interactions mental structures and
processes are tied to social interactions
Role of cultural tools (language is most
important)
Role of language & private speech
Self-talk

Role

& learning (self-regulation)

of adults and peers

Allyn & Bacon

3 Main Influences on
Social sources of individual thought
Cognitive Development
knowledge is co-constructed through shared

activities
the co-constructed ideas are then internalized

Cultural

tools

material

(physical)
psychological (language & symbols)
Zone

of Proximal Development

area

where the child cannot solve a problem

alone, but can be successful under adult guidance
or in collaboration with a more advanced peer
Allyn & Bacon

Scaffolding
The

supports necessary to advance

students in the zone of proximal
development
Provides a bridge between what
students currently know and the next
task level
Strategies for providing scaffolding
Table 2.5, p. 63
Allyn & Bacon

Implications of
Vygotskys Theory for
Teachers
Assisted

learning (prompts, reminders,

encouragement)
Scaffolding
Zone of proximal development
Collaborative learning
Alternative assessment
Self-instruction (based on private speech)
See Guidelines, Woolfolk, p.63
Allyn & Bacon

Piaget and Vygotsky

Compared
Private speech
Table 2.4, p. 59
Piagetegocentric

speech; cognitive immaturity

Vygotsky-controls and directs to facilitate
learning and to control behavior
Development

and Learning

Piagetdevelopment

precedes learning
Vygotskylearning is an active process and
does not need to wait on development; learning
pulls development
Learning

and others

Piagetlearn

from equal peers; creates

challenges (disequilibrium)
Vygotskylearn from more capable peers or
adults
Allyn & Bacon

Piaget and Vygotsky

Magic

Middle

Place

of the match, where students are

neither bored or frustrated
Pair students who are in the same zone
of proximal development
This

is NOT the same as teaching to

the middle, which is something that
should NEVER be practiced.
Allyn & Bacon