Cognitive development is the construction of thought processes, including remembering, problem solving, and decision-making, from childhood through adolescence to adulthood.
It was once believed that infants lacked the ability to think or form complex ideas and remained without cognition until they learned language. It is now known that babies are aware of their surroundings and interested in exploration from the time they are born. From birth, babies begin to actively learn. They gather, sort, and process information from around them, using the data to develop perception and thinking skills.
Cognitive development refers to how a person perceives, thinks, and gains understanding of his or her world through the interaction of genetic and learned factors. Among the areas of cognitive development are information processing, intelligence, reasoning, language development, and memory.
The most well-known and influential theory of cognitive development is that of French psychologist Jean Piaget (1896–1980). Piaget's theory, first published in 1952, grew out of decades of extensive observation of children, including his own, in their natural environments as opposed to the laboratory experiments of the behaviorists. Although Piaget was interested in how children reacted to their environment, he proposed a more active role for them than that suggested by learning theory. He envisioned a child's knowledge as composed of schemas, basic units of knowledge used to organize past experiences and serve as a basis for understanding new ones.
Schemas are continually being modified by two complementary processes that Piaget termed assimilation and accommodation. Assimilation refers to the process of taking in new information by incorporating it into an existing schema. In other words, people assimilate new experiences by relating them to things they already know. On the other hand, accommodation is what happens when the schema itself changes to accommodate new knowledge. According to Piaget, cognitive development involves an ongoing attempt to achieve a balance between assimilation and accommodation that he termed equilibration.
At the center of Piaget's theory is the principle that cognitive development occurs in a series of four distinct, universal stages, each characterized by increasingly sophisticated and abstract levels of thought. These stages always occur in the same order, and each builds on what was learned in the previous stage. They are as follows:
Sensorimotor stage (infancy): In this period, which has six sub-stages, intelligence is demonstrated through motor activity without the use of symbols. Knowledge of the world is limited, but developing, because it is based on physical interactions and experiences. Children acquire object permanence at about seven months of age (memory). Physical development (mobility) allows the child to begin developing new intellectual abilities. Some symbolic (language) abilities are developed at the end of this stage.
Pre-operational stage (toddlerhood and early childhood): In this period, which has two sub stages, 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, non-reversible manner. Egocentric thinking predominates.
Concrete operational stage (elementary and early adolescence): In this stage, characterized by seven types of conservation (number, length, liquid, mass, weight, area, and volume), intelligence is demonstrated through logical and systematic manipulation of symbols related to concrete objects. Operational thinking develops (mental actions that are reversible). Egocentric thought diminishes.
Formal operational stage (adolescence and adulthood): In this stage, intelligence is demonstrated through the logical use of symbols related to abstract concepts. Early in the period there is a return to egocentric thought. Only 35 percent of high school graduates in industrialized countries obtain formal operations; many people do not think formally during adulthood.
As of 2004 it is widely accepted that a child's intellectual ability is determined by a combination of heredity and environment. Thus, although a child's genetic inheritance is unchangeable, there are definite ways that parents can enhance their child's intellectual development through environmental factors. They can provide stimulating learning materials and experiences from an early age, read to and talk with their children, and help children explore the world around them. As children mature, parents can both challenge and support the child's talents. Although a supportive environment in early childhood provides a clear advantage for children, it is possible to make up for early losses in cognitive development if a supportive environment is provided at some later period, in contrast to early disruptions in physical development, which are often irreversible.
2006-10-26 23:54:12
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answer #1
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answered by Anonymous
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By this do you mean, teaching a child through the developmental level that they are cognitively able to grasp? If so, all this means is that you aren't teaching above a child's zone of proximal development (the range between what they know now, and what they can do with a little help from an adult). Knowing the developmental level that a child is cognitively at makes a huge difference in teaching. You wouldn't teach a two year old to print letters, because they are not cognitively able to do that yet. All this phrase means is that you are aware of the brain developmental level of the child, and are teaching in a way that will be most effective (and understood) for the child.
2006-10-26 08:59:21
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answer #3
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answered by dolphin mama 5
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i think of that it shows that greater daughters are desirous to enhance up feeling like they have greater possibilities. some women who stay abode and raise toddlers in lots of circumstances sense "trapped." with out a artwork historic previous, or the different variety of interest journey,stay at abode mom's can sense as though they're positioned right into a situation the place they sense they can't stay to tell the tale with out yet another earnings. ( it quite is to declare in the event that they have been all of sudden confronted with the area of being a unmarried mom.) i've got self belief in coaching our daughters that they could be autonomous for self protection. no longer something incorrect with being a stay at abode mom, however the tough actuality is that generally it does no longer continually artwork out to be the main suitable situation. Sons might maximum in all risk no longer want to resemble their mothers by way of fact i think of they see their working mom having to artwork her interest and the "2d shift" ( each and all the cooking, cleansing and different house standard jobs....alongside with their paying interest).
2016-10-16 10:34:44
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answer #4
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answered by Anonymous
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